According to the latest National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Apprentice and trainee outcomes 2021, 94% of trade apprentice graduates were found employed after training, up 2.5 percentage points from 2019. Similarly, 88.4% of traineeship graduates also found jobs after training, 3.5% points higher than 2019 before COVID-19 spread worldwide.

According to the report, which was cited by the government, the ‘overwhelmingly majority’ were happy with the skills they learned on the job. It was also found that more than a quarter of Australian employers at 24.7% have an apprentice or trainee with them. This is the highest rate reported since 2011. 

NCVER said that the surge in businesses taking up apprentices and trainings is because of the government's JobKeeper, the Infection Control Training Fund, Supporting Apprentices and Trainees Wage support, the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage support, and JobTrainer. In Australia, employers hiring apprentices may make them qualified for incentives, which are subject to eligibility criteria, waiting periods, and time limits.

‘More Australians apprentices and trainees are getting into a job today than before the pandemic, while other countries shed their apprentice workforce we stepped in and put record funding in place, those apprentices are now graduating and getting onto worksites across the country,’ said Stuart Robert, Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Minister.